Warrior abilities/Pre-Mists
Note: This page has to do with the class prior to Mists of Pandaria. The abilities listed below specified which stances could be uses with which abilities. Also see more warrior tactics. which works just fine even on non-aggressive combat companions. **In addition, Intimidating Shout fears everything in its radius that isn't the target. This can be quite dangerous, but can also buy time for a hasty escape or avoid taking on more than one enemy at a time. The target will cower in fear, immobilized for the duration of the shout, but will be freed upon taking any damage. That is, if you intend to use the ability to escape combat, you should remember to stop attacking the moment before you activate it to prevent disrupting the effect. **''See Tanking'' ;Counterattacks Warriors gain access to certain counterattacks, namely Overpower and Revenge. This requires you to be quick to react. ;Damage over Time Warriors have access to a nice DoT ability, Rend. This DoT should, as all DoTs, be applied in combats where the DoT will have time to work. ;Buffs Warriors have two long duration buffs, although they last only two minutes (three if correctly talented). Battle Shout increases attack power and Commanding Shout increases maximum health, and both of these apply to everyone in the warrior's group inside 30 yards. These buffs require rage, and since warriors don't generate rage out of combat, they cannot prepare it before fights (except if he uses Bloodrage). Although they have a limited amount of long term buffs compared to priests and druids, they can also gain very strong short timed buffs such as Flurry, which increases attack speed by 25% score each time the warrior scores a critical strike (fury talent) or Enrage, which increases all damage done by the warrior by 25%, activates when the warrior receives a critical strike (fury talent). All those small buffs lasts under 15 seconds, but makes the warrior a very powerful character in combat. ;Debuffs Warriors have access to quite a few debuffs, everything from enemy attack-speed reduction (Thunder Clap), attack power reduction (Demoralizing Shout, Disarm) and movement speed reduction (Hamstring) to spell interruption (Shield Bash, Pummel) and armor reduction (Sunder Armor). In addition, Charge and Intercept could also be considered debuffs, since they stun the enemy. ;Direct Damage Warriors deal direct damage with Cleave, Execute, Heroic Strike, Intercept, Shield Slam and Slam. ;Protection Warriors can protect themselves or others with Shield Wall, Shield Block, Last Stand, Concussion Blow, and Intervene. ;Shouts Shouts generally buff or debuff multiple targets. Because of this, shouts should be used frequently but judiciously. |Timing| Certain Warrior abilities require the player to use them within a given window of opportunity. This means that extra attention needs to be paid to the hotbar, and the enemy's actions. These fall into two types: ;Reactions These hotkeys will light up when a certain condition has been met. The Warrior then has a second or two to use the ability, or it will go dark and the moment has been lost. It is worth using them whenever possible, as they either do a lot of damage, or use much less Rage than a normal attack. Overpower - After a target Dodges. Revenge - After a self Dodge, Block or Parry. Execute - When target's remaining health is below 20%. (The Revenge condition can be forced by using Shield Block beforehand. This will almost guarantee a self Block on the next enemy attack, and light up Revenge.) ;Interrupts These hotkeys are available whenever the Warrior has sufficient Rage, but are best kept for certain situations, as they will interrupt the enemy's spells. This takes some practice to get right, but can massively reduce the effort it takes to kill the enemy, either by preventing incoming damage, or stopping them healing themselves or allies. Shield Bash - Use when enemy caster begins casting. Pummel - As Shield Bash. The casting charge-up noise and glowing hands effect used to be difficult to describe, but now there is an interface option to show an enemies casting bar, and the ability to silence or interrupt right before channeling completes. ;Reflection Spell Reflection - Used to reflect an enemy spell back on themselves. As for interrupts this is best kept for certain situations - eg when a high damage or Crowd Control spell is being cast on you. }}